October 2002

H.E.A.R. honors Metallica

METALLICA Metallica was easily the best, most influential
heavy metal band of the '80s, responsible for bringing the
music back to earth. Instead of playing the usual rock star
games of metal stars of the early '80s,the band looked and
talked like they were from the street. Metallica expanded
the limits of thrash, using speed and volume not for their
own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions.
The release of 1983's Kill 'Em All marked the beginning of
the legitimization of heavy metal's underground, bringing
new complexity and depth to thrash metal. With each album,the
band's playing and writing improved; James Hetfield developed
a signature rhythm playing that matched his growl, while lead
guitarist Kirk Hammett became one of the most copied guitarists
in metal. Lars Ulrich's thunderous, yet complex, drumming
clicked in perfectly with Cliff Burton's innovative bass playing.
After releasing their masterpiece Master of Puppets in 1986,
tragedy struck the band when their tour bus crashed while
traveling in Sweden, killing Burton. When the band decided
to continue, Jason Newsted was chosen to replace Burton; two
years later, the band released the conceptually ambitious
..And Justice for All, which hit the Top Ten without any radio
play and very little support from MTV.

But Metallica completely crossed over into the mainstream
with 1991's Metallica, which found the band trading in their
long compositions for more concise song structures; it resulted
in a number one album that sold over seven million copies
in the U.S. alone. The band launched a long, long tour which
kept them on the road for nearly two years. By the '90s, Metallica
had changed the rules for all heavy metal bands; they were
the leaders of the genre, respected not only by headbangers,
but by mainstream record buyers and critics.

No other heavy metal band has ever been able to pull off
such a trick. However, the group lost some members of their
core audience with their long-awaited follow-up to Metallica,
1996's Load. For Load, the band decided to move toward alternative
rock in terms of image - they cut their hair and had their
picture taken by Anton Corbijn. Although the album was a hit
upon its summer release - entering the charts at number one
and selling three million copies within two months - certain
members of their audience complained about the shift in image,
as well as the group's decision to headline the sixth Lollapalooza.
Re-Load, which combined new material with songs left off of
the Load record, appeared in 1997; despite poor reviews,it
sold at a typically brisk pace through the next year. Garage
Inc., a double-disc collection of B-sides, rarities, and newly
recorded covers, followed in 1998.

In 1999, Metallica continued their flood of product with
S&M, documenting a live concert with the San Francisco Symphony;
it debuted at number two, reconfirming their immense popularity.
The band spent most of 2000 embroiled in controversy by spearheading
a legal assault on Napster, a file-sharing service that allowed
users to download music files from each other's computers;
aggressively targeting copyright infringement of their own
material, the band notoriously had over 300,000 users kicked
off the service, creating a widespread debate over the availability
of digital music that raged for most of the year. In January
2001, bassist Jason Newsted announced his amicable departure
from the band. Shortly after the band appeared at the 'ESPN'
awards in April of the same year, Hetfield, Hammett, and Ulrich
entered the recording studio to begin work on their next album,
with Hetfield lined up to handle bass duties for the sessions
(with rumors of former Ozzy Osbourne/Alice in Chains bassist
Mike Inez being considered for the vacated position). In July,
Metallica surprisingly dropped their lawsuit against Napster,
perhaps sensing that their controversial stance did more bad
than good to their 'band of the people' image. On August 1st,
the band's recording sessions (and all other band-related
matters) were put on hold, as Hetfield entered an undisclosed
rehab facility.

Lars Ulrich has worked with H.E.A.R. appearing in various
public service announcements since 1990. Lars is featured
in H.E.A.R.'s award winning video for schools "Can't
Hear Yyou Knocking" distributed to over 30,000 high school
districts in the US and Erope. We thank Lars for his outstanding
support of hearing awareness!